Within the hushed ambiance of a hotel bar near London's prestigious dance company, Matthew Ball orders a mint tea. The dancer's posture is naturally straight-backed, his limbs defined beneath a plain white T-shirt. On stage, dancers can appear as powerful deities, yet often offstage they are petite. Not so Ball, whose height is part of his demand for heroic roles and pas de deux work. Possessing fine traits and piercing eyes, there's a hint of a brooding actor about him.
A Seamless Ascent to the Pinnacle
At 31, Ball is experiencing the crest of a career that has advanced smoothly. Raised in Liverpool, he encountered little teasing for his childhood passion in ballet. Joining the Royal Ballet School at 11, he moved straight into the troupe and was advanced each year, attaining the highest position of principal in 2018. He has loved taking on meaty dramatic roles, especially the psychological turmoil found in a famed choreographer's works.
"Your lungs are burning, your legs get heavy, but it’s really a mental fatigue."
Ball's upcoming featured role is as himself, in an "Evening With" series designed to offer behind-the-scenes insights into a dancer's craft. He will walk the audience through a part, showing his cognitive workflow during execution. Even in lighter ballets, the challenge is profound. "Don Quixote is one of the toughest from a skill perspective," he states.
The Mental Struggle and After the Show Emotions
How does he feel following a performance, when he has succeeded? "It feels pretty good," he says. "However because I'm trying to extract all the emotion out of it, and get immersed in the character, frequently I do feel self-conscious afterwards. Following Mayerling I'm always thinking: God, what must people think?"
Offstage, Ball is reflective, polite, and prone to laugh at himself. Yet a choreographer previously observed on a "kind of suffering in him." Is there? "I'm quite active in general, but I do have a melancholy streak," he reveals. "I kind of enjoy pessimism sometimes. I've always felt that doubt has been an instigator for good change."
Formative Motivations and Creative Influences
His tenacity stemmed from youthful experiences. Not doing well in competitions at school made him "vengeful!" It was motivation to demonstrate he could succeed. Discovering the book *Mao's Last Dancer* was a "watershed" moment. "It changed everything, it made me go a bit fanatical," he remembers.
The next endeavor is making his own choreography. For Ball, "there's nothing wrong with." "Challenging the conventions is compelling, but just pretending that they’re not a thing any more – I don’t know how far you can go with that." He aims his work to be filled with meaning, drawing inspiration from literature, compositions, and painting.
Close-Up Dance and Private Dynamic
He also is interested in staging dance in smaller spaces. "It was just really thrilling," he says of a previous experience. "You’re so near to the viewers. I felt as if they were thinking: 'That’s a person, and they’re perspiring.'"
Ball has made duets with his partner, fellow principal Mayara Magri. The degree of faith between them is clear. "We tried it out on the beach first," he says of a audacious lift. "It resembled Dirty Dancing." The couple are not usually paired on stage at their home company, which is perhaps healthy. "We’re both quite determined people, so it’s not always hunky dory," he notes. "But I feel like we’re each other’s biggest cheerleader."
On Social Media and Physical Perception
On Instagram, followers can see videos from his dance films and photos that highlight a athletic physique. Does he mind that the response can be somewhat focused on appearance? Not really. "The body is just what we work with, so I don’t feel very protective about it," he explains. He compares it to viewing Michelangelo’s David—something that can be seen on multiple ways.
Ball describes his early self as "eager for success." Has it met his hopes? "I am conscious of how reality is a different thing to the aspirations you had as a young person," he reflects. He probably has about ten years of performing left. "I guess in the time to come, I want to be a bit more gentle with myself."
